Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, July 22, 1997

A new study on veterans' health care needs in Northern California recommends against building a new hospital at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, dealing a blow to veterans groups fighting for a new facility in the Bay Area.

"Four years ago, the studies showed that Travis was the ideal location for a new veterans hospital," said Fairfield Councilman George Pettygrove, a founding member of Operation VA, a 4-year drive to build a $211 million, 243- bed hospital. "I'm not an unreasonable person, but I question their thinking. How could the numbers have changed so dramatically in such a short time?"

The study, commissioned by Congress, projects that the number of veterans using facilities each year in Northern California will drop 38 percent, from about 35,000 in 1996 to about 21,500 in 2020. The study, which was released Friday, also says the inpatient bed need will fall 40 percent between 1996 and 2020 because of the shrinking veterans population.

The VA had considered a new facility at Travis to replace its Martinez hospital damaged in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. Vice President Al Gore even attended the groundbreaking ceremony for the Travis hospital in June 1994.

However, Republicans who took control of Congress a few months later halted construction of all new VA hospitals.

VA officials said yesterday the study reflects the major reorganization of the veterans' health care system begun in 1995 and changes in California's health care marketplace.

"The VA is going to great lengths to try to take care of as many veterans as they can," said Susan Fishbein, a VA spokeswoman in Los Angeles. "They take that mission very seriously."

The six-month study by San Francisco-based Price Waterhouse suggests that some veterans be treated at a new county hospital under construction in Martinez.

The study found Los Medanos was too large and would need too many renovations. It also noted that having a hospital in Pittsburg would "cannibalize" the VA's outpatient clinic in Martinez.

Al Prince, president of the Los Medanos Community Hospital board, said he believes veterans were slighted by the report.

"We heard from day one that people were working hard to try to get one of the existing closed military bases used as a veterans facility," Prince said. "It's a real blow to local vets. I don't think it's the right decision for them. And they're the ones who need to be satisfied."

VA officials said the public may comment on the report through August 1. The VA will then make a recommendation to Congress.